A New Paradigm?

Back in the 80s it was said that no manager would be fired for selecting IBM (mainframe or software). Along came a paradigm shift from the big iron mainframes to smaller, client-server based systems. SAP was(and is) the leader in these systems. However, they have lost sight of why companies switched from the "big iron" and in-house supported COBOL/CICS systems. It was because the client-server gave flexibility. However, over the years it has grown into exactly like the software it replaced. Big, bulky, slow to change, difficult to implement. Expensive to support (both hardware and software). No longer with SAP and similar systems be a "given".

A new paradigm shift will be accelerated by our current economic downturn. Innovative companies will return to the roots of having a core staff of in-house Business Process/Programmer combination people that can leverage the power of various FLOSS ERP systems and their supporting communities. The result is that systems such as Compiere, OpenBravo and other systems will move toward a large scale Enterprise support. Utilizing technology such as Evergreen does with XMPP these systems will be scalable from the smallest implementation on one PC server to supporting Enterprises all over the world.

Finally, organizations will be able to innovate their support systems at the same speed as they need to innovate their business. Waiting for months (if not longer) for "the next release" will be a thing of the past. AND that folks is what we need in the 21st century.
(copy of a comment that I made on "The Register" this morning")

Saving 2.5 million jobs in the USA

S(originally posted 11/23/2008)

President-elect Obama has announced "a bold initiative to save or create 2.5 million jobs in the next two years". (source: www.change.gov) Hopefully he (and his staff) will examine the reasons why jobs in the USA are lost to other countries. One of the leading reasons is that costs are just too high in the USA. Contributing to that is not only the cost of labor but the total cost of the product which includes all costs of a business. Companies today spend a TREMENDOUS amount of money on software and other support process. By tackling those costs
and applying such modern techniques as Agile Programming, utilizing Open Source and the power of "community" a companies total cost can be reduced. This would lead not only to better processes since the software would exactly support the business but also a lower total cost.

Some might say that it is only a fraction of total cost since labor is a high percentage. The actual savings from having streamlined software tools (not big, bulky, hard to configure, expensive "off the shelf" software) and the impact on speeding up process improvements is unknown. My opinion is that it would be a positive exponential impact on the speed of innovation. That makes it worthwhile.

Whoever is selected as the USA's CTO should have an Open Source Summit. Properly executed it could become the USA's competitive advantage.

Automotive Bailout

(Originally posted 11/22/2008)

Recent news stories have chronicled the push by the "Big 3" American automotive manufacturers for a "Bailout" by the U.S. Government. I won't go into their reasons and pleas.. those are better found elsewhere. Correctly, the US Congress has temporarily denied the request and sent the CEO's home to return with a "plan". What will this "plan" contain? That is the big question. There is some focus on having product that is environmentally friendly and less dependence on fossil fuels. While that is part of the answer it alone will not solve the issues.

We've had the same basic design in vehicles since the early days. 4 wheels, axles, drivetrain, an engine and steering. Around all of this fits a body. The OEMs release yearly "models" that appeal primarily to our visual senses. The basic "vehicle" doesn't really change. Our society today has changed. We want uniqueness in our life. We don't want to wait on anything. Our lives move at a very fast pace. We expect everything around us to move accordingly. Result of this is that the automotive industry must reinvent itself to support this uniqueness and fast paced lifestyle of it's customer.

MRP II/ERP, Production lines, firm zones, releases, schedules and other relics of the past no longer work. The successful company of the future will toss out all of these concepts of the last century. They will find new processes that will be the death of the "model " and "model year" as we know it. Every vehicle will be uniquely configured by the end customer and delivered in a fast timeframe. This so called "cookie-cooker" car where the customer can choose his own configuration will require a total rework of the production and supply chain processes.

Trying to have incremental changes won't make it. Usually what happens in that case is more layers are added to the processes, more reports are generated but totally new processes are not innovated. We need this innovation. It last happened in the 1960s when there was a strong focus on getting to the moon. We need to rediscover that level of innovation. Totally new processes and products need to happen in terms of months, not years. It can be done. Not without risk but it takes risk to really have innovation.

Two quotes attributed to Henry Ford are: " Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently" and "Life is a series of experience, each of which makes us bigger even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs which we endure help us in our marching onward."

Congress is right, a plan is needed. What is not needed is a bailout that finances business as usual.

Lets reinvent the industry and march onward.

Reducing Costs

(Originally posted 10/17/2008)

Already with yesterday's rise in the world stock markets, some people were breathing a sigh of relief. But is the crisis really over? What does adding billions of currency (USD, Euro) to the world market really solve? The banks have cash but the people still have loans that are past due, mortgages that are close to foreclosure and jobs that are being eliminated. We are the ultimate customer of every company, even the one we work for.

What happens when we, the ultimate customer, can no longer purchase a new car, house, electronic appliance or just about anything else? Then the whole economic chain will collapse. Our jobs depend on our companies being profitable and that depends on us being able to buy products. BUT we are now "upside down" as some financial advisers would say. The downward spiral is starting to bounce a bit but it is still downward.

So what must we do to stop this? Stay tuned.

Is the crisis over?

(originally posted 10/14/2008)

Already with yesterday's rise in the world stock markets, some people were breathing a sigh of relief. But is the crisis really over? What does adding billions of currency (USD, Euro) to the world market really solve? The banks have cash but the people still have loans that are past due, mortgages that are close to foreclosure and jobs that are being eliminated. We are the ultimate customer of every company, even the one we work for.

What happens when we, the ultimate customer, can no longer purchase a new car, house, electronic appliance or just about anything else? Then the whole economic chain will collapse. Our jobs depend on our companies being profitable and that depends on us being able to buy products. BUT we are now "upside down" as some financial advisers would say. The downward spiral is starting to bounce a bit but it is still downward.

So what must we do to stop this? Stay tuned.

A New World

(originally posted on 10/09/2008)
The current economic crisis is spreading around the world at an increasing pace. We all have to realize that the solution will require us to no longer have "business as usual". Organizations should take the opportunity now to innovate totally new methods and rules not only in their organizations but also with and in their business partners.